Pitch : Jaeger - 4.11.01

Team : 1.Don Crockford, 2.Ollie Claydon, 3.Will Kane, 4.Adam Donkin, 5.Ollie Smith, 6.Jamie McConnochie, 7.Ettienne O'Neil, 8.James Catt, 9.Tom Alderwich, 10.Tom Mckenzie, 11.Andy Walls, 12.Phil Catt, 13.Toby Lewis-Donaldson, 14.Alex Manning, 15.Ben Pilbeam. Substitutes : Nathan Grey, Simon Wedlake, Will Hooper, Ollie Brown, Alex Swainsburg, Charles Neate, Tom Atterton, Edward Hancock, Adam Smith.

Early November and unexpected excellent weather conditions played their part in a thrilling encounter between Cranbrook and Horsham under 13's.

Following last weeks determined win against Sevenoaks, Cranbrook approached the match in upbeat form, despite several injuries. Tom Mckenzie played at Fly half, and other illnesses to the second row meant that Cranbrook fielded a slightly weakened side against an in form Horsham.

Early play was split evenly between the two sides, with both packs working hard to exert their influence over the game. 10 minutes into the first half, Cranbrook started to exercise their dominance in the line outs and scrums, taking many of the line outs and scrums against the ball. Despite the Cranbrook balance of possession, largely exerted by Ollie Claydon, Ettienne O'Neil and Adam Donkin, Cranbrook were unable to control the passing play due to inefficient ball control and slow ball release from the scrum and line out. This aspect of play dogged Cranbrook throughout the match with Horsham frustrating Cranbrook with consistent pressure from the Horsham backs. After 20 minutes play the Cranbrook forwards brushed off several Horsham tackles to break through the Horsham line to race to the corner post to record the first try for Cranbrook. The difficult conversion was missed just short of the posts. Cranbrook continued to exert forward pressure and were rewarded with a second try towards the end of the first half. This was easily converted by the full back Ben Pilbeam. With the balance of first half play in Cranbrooks favour, the half time score was fairly reflected at Cranbrook 12 - Horsham 0.

The second half started where the first had left off, with both sides grappling for superiority and little to separate them. With Crockford substituted for Tom Atterton, Cranbrook continued to win possession, especially at the line out with Will Kane and James Catt often winning possession against the ball. Possession tended to then be squandered by slow Cranbrook passing and an immediate step up in Horsham pressure from the backs. After 10 minutes into the second half the Cranbrook platform was eroded with a half way line run from the Horsham winger Joseph Davis who escaped the challenge of several chasing Cranbrook players to score the first Horsham try. Building on this Horsham were rewarded with a second try almost identical to the first by Edward Mardell.

Horsham continued to pressure and were nearly rewarded with a third try exept for solid tackling on the Cranbrook line from Andy Walls and Ben Pilbeam. With the score at 12 - 10 in favour of Cranbrook, Horsham looked as though they could overturn the Cranbrook lead, but were thwarted by James Catt, who at No 8, gathered the ball from a scrum just inside the Horsham half to race through several tackles to score a try in the corner for Cranbrook just before full time. Cranbrook determined to put pressure on the U13 top league position were not content to stop at this and Catt claimed a second try in the dying moments of the match. The final score was Cranbrook 22 - Horsham 10 keeping Cranbrook solidly in contention for a top league spot.